LOST IN SPACE-Visit to a Hostile Planet, Kidnapped In Space

The Jupiter II reaches outer orbital velocity, exiting final atmosphere (of a planet? moon? sun? other body?). John and Don at the controls switch to emergency fuel cells for firing check, then try to blast clear impurities from the reserve fuel system. Maureen calls up and John explains to her. Smith runs for his gas mask. The females, Will, and Smith are cradled around the galley area. All are in their regular space clothes, not the silver space suits. Full forward thrust for one minute doesn't appear to help as the ship gets caught at runaway thrust. Will thinks they are approaching the speed of light. Debbie the Bloop spits at Smith from her little cabinet room. From behind his gas mask, Smith yells at her, "How dare you!"The power doesn't turn off and goes to maximum acceleration. The ship shakes as runaway thrust takes it beyond the speed of light. John wants to try emergency circuit breakers. Robot rolls to them, telling them about moving past the speed of light, mentioning EM radiation speed. There is a blast and the two men fall. The Jupiter II turns sideways in a red-yellow-blue vortex of spirals.

7-6-5-4-3-2-1

The Jupiter turns in a whirlwind vortex, over and over, upsidedown and around. It tilts some more as well as back and forth as a wind sound is heard and a green glow negatives everyone and the entire interior. Slowly it stops. Smith gets up, thinking he is underwater since everything is glassy--he still has his mask on, "...at the bottom of some terrible sea."He thinks the others who are unconscious, are dead, "Dear lady..."He thinks he is the only survivor and goes up, "Oh woe is me, alac and alas."Bumping into the Robot he thinks the Robot might be a manta ray or a giant squid. The background sounds to the Jupiter II is new...a low hum. Smith takes off his gas mask. Robot tries to explain to the yelling Smith that thrust took them into a hyperdrive. Robot says, "I have sufficient data that runaway acceleration at the speed of light and electro magnetic radiation at runaway velocity has brought us through a space warp to that solar system containing the planet Earth."Smith sees it out the window, happy. He is also happy to see the Professor and the Major alive, "You're alive, thank goodness."He thinks Earth out the window is a mirage. John says, "No."Smith says, "This ghastly nightmare is over."Robot confirms this, definitely, "Our journeys are over."Smith asks if they are all sure it is Earth. Don is smiling. Smith says, after the men confirm it, that he knew it all the time. Don wonders about that establishment that might want to know they are back, "Beta, gamma...don't tell me now..."John tells him to get on his Zee band. Lightheartedly, Don asks Smith, "Excuse me, doctor..."Smith is happy to move so Don can try to contact Earth. We see Earth (DERELICT "grand" music). All are in the control room in silver spacesuits now. John tries calling Alpha Control some more using a radio beam frequency, "Something strange is going on."Judy has her hair back and a long, uppity ponytail. In three minutes they will touch down. The others leave to strap in down below. Jupiter II comes down and we hear the "mixed feeling emotional"music for a brief moment as the females, Will, and Smith come down the leg of the spaceship. It is night. They notice many things: the smell of pine like a fall and burning leaves, a lake or a pond nearby. Penny is not cold, she tells Will, just, just happy. Maureen sees the glow of lights from manmade buildings, a city probably, "Soon we'll be among friends. I'm so happy I could just shout."Judy tells her, "I'd like to do what Dr. Smith is doing."Smith is on the ground, rubbing it with his hands and seemingly kissing it. NOTE: Judy's hair is straight down now. John and Don are at the window of the Jupiter control room making checks. We see this in one frame as in THE DERELICT--the full scale mock up is used here as in that episode. Maureen and Will have flashlights. Smith starts his homecoming speech, ready for wine, "Friends, countrymen, ladies and gentlemen as I look about at all your smiling faces..."Will stops him, telling him to save it for someone who HAS to listen to it. Smith is undaunted and happily tells Will that together they shall "tread the friendly paths of Earth."Will complains they have no transportation. Smith is still adamant, "Fiddlety fie, William, come along."They go. Penny sees a gate and a shack. The females go to "see what they can see."John and Don seem to be waiting on the leg and hesitate before coming down the leg. The Earth calendar as best as John could check reads it should be October in the Earth year 1999 and they are in a parking lot. John thinks it could be a weekend. A variation theme on the usual scary music is very nice as the girls and Maureen go into the shack and find it very old but without much dust and for some reason, Maureen thinks that nobody has been in here for some time. Judy asks Maureen to try calling the communication center. Maureen sees an antique phone. Maureen is not sure she can on the old phone, she's seen pictures of people using them, "Hello, this is Maureen Robinson from the Jupiter II, do you read me?"She hangs up as they hear some kind of alarm bell sound from it, "I think we'd better get back to the ship and report back to your father."They leave, Maureen feeling very concerned. John and Don pass by a wood pile of lumber and spot an antique car--AB3967--Michigan, a 1947 model. Getting in, John turns on the radio and at first, gets static.

Finally he gets a report: "This is emergency station MTG--al listeners are urged to stay tuned to this station for full minute by minute reports on the grave situation which now faces this area. At 2:35 this morning an unidentifiable flying object was seen in the skies above Lake Superior. At the same time, all power and communications within a 200 miles radius of station MTG failed. Witnesses now report that the craft which appears to maneuver without propellers or steering gear, has landed in the parking area of a sawmill in Manitu Junction. All citizens capable of bearing arms are urged to report at once to the home of Joseph Craigmeyer on William Lane, Manitu Junction. It is believed that the occupants of the unidentified object are dangerous emissaries of a world not our own."

From outside and listening through the window, Don says, "Oh no."

"You are listening to emergency station MTG. The time is now 3:15 Am, Saturday, October 17th, 1947. Please Stand by."

John and Don move out and talk, John telling Don that they are 50 years out of their time, "They think we're aliens. Let's get back to the ship."Two men, Charlie and Grover, peek their heads out from behind a lumber pile and point arms at the two men's backs. Charlie has a rifle and Grover has a hand gun.

ACT TWO

Grover read TALES OF TOMORROW and found out the blimp the two men went into is nothing more than an electric shadow just like the aliens which are called Voltones. Touching the ship and the aliens would give them just an electric shock. The two hide as Will and Smith come looking. Smith sees the lumber and thinks it would make a good reviewing stand for the returning heroes with a color guard, planes, ticker tape....the two men come out. Will and Smith try to explain. Charlie pokes at Will who says, "Hey, that hurt!"Smith yells, "Unhand him sir!"Will tries to let the two men who he is and they don't seem to know the Robinsons. Will says, "Look, I know we've been away for a long time but you must've heard of the Jupiter 2--well, we've come back."Will continues, "You must remember my father--John Robinson"and "We were on every video screen in the country when we lifted off."Will says there were plenty of video screens even way back in 1950. Grover laughs at that--1950--isn't for another 3 years yet. Smith asks if it is 1946 but Grover does the math for him--47 is what it is. Smith gasps, "Oh good Heavens, William!"Will frowns, "Dr. Smith, we must've passed through a time warp. We're 50 years ahead of them!"Charlie is about to believe their story of being human, noting they "ain't electric shadows like you said."He thinks maybe they were wrong. Grover is about to wonder also, "You think so?"Will says, "Believe us, sir, we're from Earth."The two are about to when the Robot arrives, "All personnel report back to the Jupiter."He walks (as opposed to sliding) but Grover shoots and dents the Robot. Robot blasts both men backward. Will and Smith run, Robot follows, sliding. John and Don run out as the two enter the Jupiter II via the leg up. A shot hits the antenna on the Jupiter's roof and it blasts up. John tells Don to fire into the lumber pile. The two men fire at the lumber and the 1947 men run away. Robot calls them hostiles. John says, "Hostiles is right."

Later in the Control Room, John admits it would be tempting to stay but he thinks that if they try to explain, they would be put into some institution to have their heads examined. Maureen asks, "Welp, couldn't we live apart. We've been on our own for a good long time now. We could make our lives."John wonders where, on some isolated mountain, cut off from all society with no hope of surviving into their own time. Maureen agrees, "I suppose we have to find our way back to the time in which we belong."Inertial guidance system will take a half day to fix. Smith doesn't want to return to "that dreadful desolation out there."Here he claims, they could be masters of the entire planet. Judy asks what good that will do when everyone thinks they are some kind of a gook. John tells Smith to forget it--they are not taking what isn't their's to take. 1600 hours (12 hours)--is liftoff. As the others leave, Smith complains. Morning: Joe Cragmeyer's: Joe was at Shatoterrie fighting the enemy. A car backfires (plate number possibly reads A87432--from the car emerge Grover and Charlie. Grover says, "That big fella's still out."NOTE: This quote is a direct nod to THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Joe is Deputy Mayor as Mayor Nebeutter is fishing. More people voted for the mayor who is fishing than they did for Joe when Joe ran against him. This motley crew of vigilantes is not funny, not serious, and not entertaining. Their scenes are accompanied by awful music that sounds a bit like music from McCale's Navy. They back out in the car. Smith comes out to the Robot in the morning. Robot says, "Halt--WHO GOES THERE." This area is off limits. Smith is about to leave the Jupiter and asks Robot to come as his electronic aide but calls him a digitized dunce when he refuses. In the control room, Maureen walks to John at the astrogater from the girls. John tried to explain to them but Maureen figures "it takes the heart alittle more time to catch up with the head."She figures the girls haven't reconciled themselves to having their hopes dashed. Maureen goes to the girls. The two talk about the sky and how blue it is, ripe fruit, orchards, pastures, fields, birds flying, cornfields--Judy saw a lot of it on the scope. Penny wants to go pick apples. Maureen lets them go and would have liked to go with them. Will goes outside to the Robot, looking for Dr. Smith. Robot tells him what Dr. Smith has done. Will supersedes all previous orders as the orders him to go with him to find Dr. Smith. They go into town (music variation as the scene shifts). Smith is in town near Len's Garage, figuring all the poor devils are afraid of him. He hides as Grover and Charlie pass. Smith takes a fire outfit. Robot leads Will to the garage. Smith is there in a fireman's jacket and hat and with a fire axe. Will frowns, telling Smith he sure is mixed up. Smith says, "I came, I saw, and I intend to conquer."Smith pulls the power pack out of the Robot as he yells, "Warning! Warning!"The men from town grab Robot and Will. Will yells, "Hey, turn me loose, lemme go, lemme go. Lemmmmmeeee go! Let me go!"Smith is sorry but it is for his own good. He follows, holding the power pack.

ACT THREE

In a barn house, a girl, Stacey, opens a door--we hear a variation on the old music and which is new but sounds like older time music and harmonica music in keeping with the 1947 feel. Will's feet and wrists are tied and his is kneeling on the hay covered floor in the shadowy barn. Will tells her he is not dangerous but she tells him Mr. Grover says he is and that he can take on any shape and speak any language. Will tells her Mr. Grover is wrong--he is human but the Robot isn't. She won't believe him and says, "Golly, you sure do act human."Will flares up, "I am human,"he says over and over. He struggles to get free and she runs out. Will says, "What's the use."Smith goes to Joe's and claims to be from Jigasaw Falls. He used an aerial telescope to predict where the Voltones would land. He cons Joe, and Charlie tells Joe that Smith, known as the Fire Chief now, knew how to stop the Big One. Smith wants full authority as a Major. After he gets it, he talks to himself, "Well, this is only the beginning. Smith goes to Will to talk to him and puts the power pack on the barn stall. As he tries to explain what he is doing to Will, Will tells him, "Dr. Smith, please go away. You're beginning to bother me."Judy and Penny are on the outskirts of the sawmill and walking, carrying the apples they picked. A young man ropes Judy around her neck. Penny runs to help her but Judy yells at her, "No! Get back to the ship before they get you too!"The boy has a wrench but sees Judy as no threat. She wonders what he thought she was--"some kind of a zombie?"He says, "Well, aren't you?"She says, "Oh, you people are so foolish! Look, all that happened is we landed here out of our time zone and you people are treating us like we're hostile aliens."To prove she isn't, she bites into an apple. Don, Maureen, and John find that Will and Smith are missing as well as the Robot. Penny runs in, alerting them to Judy's predicament. She tells them the boy got Judy under the shed. Don and John run. The boy, Craig, eats an apple with Judy. She tells him they found the apples on a tree over at Ed Jenson's place. He tells her she is glad he didn't catch her. She says, "Oh is it any better being caught by you? Please, you know I'm being truthful---please you've got to let me go!"He tells her he will take her peacefully but she gives him any trouble...he picks the wrench up. She screams somewhat but John aims his laser at him, telling him to drop it. He does. Don takes the rope off Judy as John questions Craig. At 1600 hours, they are leaving and John tells Craig, "And I want my boy back when I go!" He tells him if his son isn't with them in one hour they will be coming into town with lasers a lot more powerful than the one he has and "there won't be many left standing when we leave."John gives him one hour. Craig runs. Judy says, "He tried to be nice."Don looks after him, "Yeah, well, I never did trust those old fashioned boys."They leave, leaving the basket there. In the barn, Stacey has untied Will's hands and he is eating a sandwich and drinking milk. The girl tells him about Dr. Smith being in charge. Will says, "Figures."Will shows her a piece of a chipped jewel he chipped off an outcropping of rock on a planet he and his family were living on. Will tries to explain that two years ago, he and his family lifted off from earth but it is really 50 years from now in her time, her future. The girl says, "If I do believe you and you are really telling the truth, that would mean we could never really meet--not for real."Will gives her the jewel to prove they really did meet for real. She is sorry but she has to tie him back up again. Smith plans to make this area the cybernetic junction of the world--he isn't using the same hick accent he was using before. Craig comes running and tells the other men that they want their youngin' back or they are gonna wipe Manitou Junction off the face of the map. Smith tells them they wouldn't dare. He has a new project: Target: Jupiter, "Alas poor Robinsons, there are none so blind as those who do not see but what must be must surely be. Jigasaw Falls indeed!"John, the females, and Don wait by the leg of the Jupiter II. With two minutes before the hour is up, Smith has Joe and his men bring a cannon to the Jupiter II, singing some army song, "Revelry" or "Rebelry" or "HiHiYe, Artillery."Smith gives them an ultimatum to lay down their weapons and surrender, "If your vehicle is not evacuated and the order obeyed in the stipulated time--the Jupiter will be destroyed!"Don says, "He's gone berserk."

ACT FOUR

Smith continues. Don calls him a crazy chump. The others go inside. Smith tells the men the Voltones wouldn't dream of using their guns. John gets on the mike which makes his voice project outside and tries to explain: in the year 1970 the United States first landed a man on the moon--25 years ago from now but 25 years ago to the Robinsons. Is his math off? 25 years from 1947 seems to be 1972. 25 years ago from 1999 is 1974. He is no mathematician. Don thinks they should get off the ship. John goes outside without guns to talk. Smith goes to John amid silly music. John tries to reason with Smith who will make a name for himself as if he has ESP. Smith whispers to John, "Please stay."John tells him if he is serious about destroying the Jupiter II, then he will have to destroy them too. With his mouth, Will gets the power pack and hops over to the Robot and uses his mouth to manoeuver the power pack into the Robot. Robot unties Will's hands and Will gets his own feet. Stacey comes in and she would like to oblige him. We hear birds. She tells them about the cannon and Target: Jupiter. Will tells her they are going to leave and she can't stop them, no offense. She has an idea and tells them to wait here. Joe wants to go home for his supper. John continues to reason with Smith, telling him that here "where there is no record of our births, where the houses we've lived in haven't been built yet."He tells Smith if he wants to stay, he can but he mustn't prevent them from leaving. John reasons that Smith is afraid to be left here alone, "That is it, isn't it? You are afraid."Smith makes his men take John as John tries to go back inside. He gives the others one minute to lay down their weapons. Maureen says, "I don't think he's responsible for his actions any more."They will do it. Grover and Charlie scout around town--boy are they out of the action. Behind them is a hotel and nearby is a model cannon. Stacey brings Will, who is dressed like a farm boy out of TOM SAWYER, and the Robot who is dressed up like a giant scarecrow. Will has on a straw hat and a stem in his mouth. They are bringing this scarecrow to daddy's cornfield. Behind them is the Fire Brigade. They let Stacey take the Robot and Will, a scarecrow and a farm boy! Grover tells Charlie all boys look the same to him, a bunch of mischief makers, the lot of em'. Maureen joins the girls and Don in throwing down the weapons in a pile under the Jupiter. Maureen asks him, "Well, Dr. Smith, we've done as you've asked--now do you mean to destroy the only means we have of getting back where we belong?"He does. Joe is a child and his cannon is his plaything, Smith says, as Joe prepares to fire. Will (wearing a wristwatch and with straw in his mouth and holding his hat on), Robot, and Stacey come running, "Don't shoot!"Stacey tells daddy Joe that their ship is the only way they have to get back where they belong. Smith thinks that staying here is a lot better than anything "out there."Will tells Smith he will stay if he lets the rest of the family go. His parents protest. Will thinks he knows what it means: even though he will be pretty old the next time he sees them all, he will be thinking about mom and dad, Judy, Penny, and Don every minute. Smith says it is a deal and together they will initiate these "yokels" into the mysteries of space exploration--the Einsteins of tomorrow. Joe wants to blow up the Jupiter anyway despite what Smith says, he won't let them go after what Smith said they could do for Manitou Junction. The cannon ball limps out and falls not able to fire. John uses this distraction to grab the gun of his guard down, "Back to the ship!"The others follow suit and grab their own guns, running for the leg of the Jupiter II. He tells them (including Smith) he won't shoot unless they try to prevent them from leaving. He goes on to say of their being aliens, "If that's what you believe, I won't try to change your mind. Let's just say that we came and when we found out we didn't belong, we left."He backs up, holding the laser rifle. He goes into the ship via the leg. Joe thinks they should let them go now!?! Smith will get a ride back to Jigasaw Falls via Joe. Smith yells, "Jigasaw Falls indeed!"He runs up the ship leg. The Jupiter II blasts off. It flies into the blue sky of day. CUE DERELICT happy and upbeat music mixed with musical bits from WELCOME STRANGER where Hapgood blasts off and sees a comet. Craig and Stacey run to answer a phone from a Colonel. Craig tells him the crew of the craft, a blimp, took a fire chief over from Jigasaw Falls when they left. In describing the craft, Craig uses the term kinda like a plate and then says, "Yeah, I guess you might call it that...a flying saucer."Stacey asks if there could be anything to what they said about being human. Craig says, "I dunno, Stacey, I just don't know."NOTE: HEY, ARE THEY BROTHER AND SISTER? Craig goes on, "Whichever, I don't guess we'll ever hear of no flying saucers no more."NOTE: 1947 is the year the "modern" rash of UFO sightings just started to occur--so Craig in all his double negative glory, is WRONG! The Jupiter II flies away from the planet Earth in all its poignant majesty.

NARRATOR: "Next week an alien race seeks the services of a doctor."

Robot says, "We are on a collision coarse."Smith says, "Don't just sit there, do something!"A giant space ark is moving at the Space Pod window as Smith in his silver suit and Robot watch. John, in the same predicament as the Pod now as Jupiter II is drawn toward the ship, says, "Reverse thrust full power."Don says, "It's no use, that magnetic beam's just too strong." "John lookout!"Don yells as an alien woman throws a bomb which sticks to a device or a wall and blows up seconds later. An alien silver faced man says to Smith, "If our leader dies, your time will also be ended."Smith has two ray guns pointed at his head, "Your leader?"A female silver face says, "Our leader is the one you will perform brain surgery on."Will gasps as the silver aliens are in his cabin. The man says, "Do not call out. Will you come peacefully with us or do we have to destroy everyone aboard this ship?"John, Don, Will, and Smith try to break out of a cage. An alien guard shoots a laser into John's chest and John falls. Will yells, "DAD!!!"Don hits the guard. Will looks at a little black haired boy in an oversized silver Jupiter II space suit, "Is that really you, Dr. Smith?"The boy says in Smith's adult voice, "Yes, what's left of me. Please help me."An alien throws a bomb and it lands on John's chest.

NARRATOR: "Next week, Kidnapped in Space on Lost In Space!"

REVIEW: Alot to like, alot to be bored by also. The scenes from last episode called this episode A VISIT TO A HOSTILE PLANET. The mock up of the Jupiter is, as always, impressive but it is does not fit in relation to the smaller model of the spaceship used for effects nor does it match the interior of the spaceship. It is nice to look at though and a marvel of design. The music is rather a nice blend of old and new (more old than new), evoking a rustic feel. The older feel of the surroundings meshes well with the Robinson's futuristic space suits which you would think they would take off and change for the more Earth type space fatigues just to make the townspeople less afraid. John's math is off--see above but the prediction that man would land on the moon in 1970 is very close to the year the US did land on the moon--1969. Judy's hair changes style from just before landing on earth to just after. Her scene with the young man, Craig, is a nice one and for once, she gets to interact with some male closer to her own age and who wasn't Don. Ditto for Will and Stacey's relation. Their scenes together are very good and leave food for thought. What would happen when Will is born and Stacey may find out? Would she try to meet the Robinsons? What would happen if a foreign alien rock remains on Earth with Stacey? Probably nothing. What sort of time distortions would result from this trip or if Smith and Will did stay? Did the Robinsons find the time warp right away or have other adventures LOST IN TIME? The town set was nice as was the parking lot set, however, there are far too few people out and about...but that could be explained away as the people were too afraid to come out due to the alien ship that landed. I also think the army and other military would be rushed to the scene right away even in 1947. The entire first act and a half is riveting, suspenseful and a far cry from being stranded on an alien desert planet again. It made for a nice breath of fresh air. The whole thing almost falls apart with the introduction of the stupid, overly annoying townspeople...namely the older men under Joe. They are not funny, not entertaining, and add nothing to the show, in fact, they make it lose any tension that was so carefully mounted up in the first act and a half. Only Craig stands out as somewhat better than the rest, being more series. Charlie was okay but as dumb as the others, stereotypes right out of GREEN ACRES (or ANDY GRIFFITH and MAYBERRY RFD) with dumb music accompanying them. Charlie almost seemed to believe Will at one point but the dopiest one--Grover convinced him otherwise---and then the Robot showed up. His gun dent caused by Grover must have been fixed by the next scene we see him in. Stacey was the only female we saw...almost a voice of reason for the backward town folk. Oddly enough, this town reminds me of the one in RETURN FROM OUTER SPACE--Hatfield Four Corners--in fact, that town was stupider than this one! And more backward! The last scene, though, makes up for some of the more stupid scenes (the cannon going limp was pure slapstick--which ruins a good plot device). This last scene, almost lyrical, has Stacey and Craig answer the phone, Craig coining the term flying saucer. The idea of the Robinsons so close to having found Earth and remaining but in the wrong time, plays upon the heart strings and is poignant in a way that THE FUGITIVE was: each time he was so close to proving his innocence only to have fate snatch it from him. LOST IN SPACE had too few of those types of feelings and this one did. It is too bad that the townspeople (vigilantes all but Stacey) were so dumbly characterized to almost rob this episode of those more serious and emotional feelings. John Peel reported that for this episode the crew wore different costumes...looking less like uniforms and more like leisure wear...if this is true...and I am almost sure it isn't...it doesn't really show.

Unseen scenes: VISIT aired second, just after CONDEMNED OF SPACE. Just after VISIT, would come the episode called KIDNAPPED IN SPACE. At first it seemed that VISIT starts in outer space totally but this may not be true since at the start, John and Don discuss outer orbital velocity and "exiting final atmosphere."Thus, since CONDEMNED OF SPACE, they had set down someplace--most likely another planet but possibly a moon, an asteroid, or some other place. When Will tells Stacey about the jewel he gives her, he tells her it is from THE PLANET he and his family were living on before coming here (they may have been LIVING on this planet for some time). Thus, the Jupiter II must have made another stop onto a planet after CONDEMNED and stayed there, just leaving it in the very opening of VISIT. Next in KIDNAPPED, the Robinsons are back in their own time (as far as we know--we aren't really told they are back in their own time). They are also still in outer space, presumably not having landed since leaving Earth of 1947 in VISIT. It is possible they did make planet fall somewhere else and left some time before KIDNAPPED. In production order, VISIT came after DEADLIEST OF THE SPECIES. KIDNAPPED IN SPACE would follow it in production order. Previously in DEADLIEST, the Jupiter II is seen landing on a rocky planet, coming down from space. It could be this planet the Robinsons leave in VISIT's opening or perhaps there were other planet falls between DEADLIEST and VISIT and the planet being left in VISIT is a totally different one. At the end of VISIT, the Robinsons are still in space and at the opening of KIDNAPPED they are also in space. It is possible they have been in space all this time or perhaps they landed on some other place or planet and took off before KIDNAPPED started.

KIDNAPPED IN SPACE

Writer: Robert Hamner

Dir: Don Richardson

TEASER

Jupiter II is flying in space as in the Control Room, Dr. Smith tells the Robot and Will to cease and desist with their playing of space static. Will thinks it has some kind of a beat but Smith says, "Beat indeed."The Robot calls it the Music of the Spheres but Smith calls it, "Galaxy A Go Go."They get something other than static and Smith hears it. The Robot figures it to be a complex communication series in fractional units. Smith suggests the computranslator and they go to the tape device (reel to reel!)--the Vector Control Tape unit. Quadrant 6 calls, aliens who need help. Will tells Smith, "You know how dad feels about contacting aliens."Invoking the name of Marco Polo, Smith asks, "Really William, what kind of space explorer are you?"Smith calls, telling them about the English language--26 letters, five vowels, 21 consonants. Aliens with spiked bracelets watch as a seemingly male one tells them XL73 Zenian (or Xenian) space probe is where they are from (BLAST OFF INTO SPACE music used here). When Smith finds out it is a call for help he wants to turn it off until he hears about great riches as a reward. The aliens require the services of a doctor. Will tells Smith he is not a real doctor. Smith insists he is a doctor of intergalactic environmental psychology. "You are not an accredited Doctor of medicine,"Robot says, "You are a quack."Smith is cut to the quick and would never fly under false colors but the space probe is too far by now and the aliens may be using this call as a trick. "Tomorrow we shall awaken thousands of miles from here, a whole new galaxy before us,"he hurries Will to the elevator for bed. Will protests it is still early but Smith and he go down. Jupiter II flies on. Smith comes out of the back room on the upper deck (which seems to have a way down to the lower deck) and he goes to Pod. Robot comes in. Smith says, "I detest snooping."The pod is off limits to everyone but the Major and Professor Robinson. Robot knows Smith will descend to the Zenian (also spelled Xenian) space probe. Smith blames him of not having compassion. Robot counters by telling Smith has compassion when there is monetary gain to be had and computes danger at the probe. They argue with Smith calling him a lily livered lump. Smith accidentally, as they argue, hits a button which starts the Pod. He bumps into the Robot who falls into and shuts the door. The Space Pod goes down out of the Jupiter II's bottom! The window shutters open, showing outer space. Smith gasps, "Oh!!!"

7-6-5-4-3-2-1

ACT ONE

The Pod flies downward. There are more stars at the window and they seem to pass by quickly. The probe is in front of the Pod soon enough (stock footage from THE DERELICT). The Space Pod heads right at it. Smith gasps, "I'm too young to die like this," so he won't watch and closes his eyes and covers them with his hands (we see a ring on his left hand). A magnetic beam homes in on the Pod and draws it into a slowly opening end point (stock from THE DERELICT). He and Robot go out. On the Pod is insignia: USA J2 A2772211IA. Smith calls Robot cowardly clump. Aliens come up from an opening to down below. Others come out of the dark, vast room. A female with red hair in prongs. Smith introduces the Robot as his male nurse. 764, the male who made the call and a black haired, silver faced (as all of the aliens are) female is 1220. As a rule Smith doesn't make house calls. Their leader is the one he will perform brain surgery on. Robot tells them he is not a doctor, his title is honorary. The aliens pull ray guns on him and point at his head.

Jupiter II in space: John and Don (hair very short on Don) emerge from one of the back rooms. They tell the waiting others that Smith and the Robot aren't on board. Don says, "We were hoping Smith had fallen overboard..."Will thinks he knows what happened. He explains about them listening to electromagnetic static as music but John asks him what this has to do with anything. Will goes on and tells them. Don asks, "Smith went off to help someone?"Will nods, "Well, it sounded like they were offering a big reward."Don states, "Smith went off to help someone."It will take six and a half hours to return since they passed through the Xenian area during the night as Penny notes from the astrogater. Don asks if they have to. Judy says, "Oh Don."John says, "Well, I don't think it'll be fair to the Robot to leave him stranded with Dr. Smith."Coordinates are A-16 as they check the astrogater.

Smith scrubs up under a large light. A blond female with silver face puts his gloves on him. We hear BLAST OFF music. Robot says, "Quack."The aliens know the Jupiter 2 is returning. Smith calls the Robot a treasonous tyrant, "Just you wait."The Jupiter II enters the Xenian galaxy again. Their ionic beam locator should pick up the pod or the probe. They pick up something that is almost as big as a planet. The girls come out from the other back door. John says, "I've never seen a ship that big in my life."As the former Chariot music plays, the Jupiter II circles the giant probe (DERELICT stock again). John tries to make contact, "Xenian space probe, this is the Earth ship Jupiter Two."When they don't answer he warns, "Take evasive action."Controls do not respond--a magnetic ray is beamed on them and pulls the ship in; reverse thrust is no use. Don says, "That magnetic beam's just too strong."The probe opens up and swallows the smaller spaceship. They all go the astrogater. John says, "Allright, hang on!"The lights go on and off and there is orange light at the window. We hear sound effects that are also used in VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA-NO WAY BACK. They hit and shake a bit. The lights go back on. John tells Will to break out the lasers. Maureen asks, "Oh, John, do you really need the guns? From what Will said Dr. Smith and the Robot are in here of their own accord."John says, "But we're not."Will asks to come too but John says, "No, son, you stay here."He tells Maureen to lock all the hatches. He and Don go down the leg of the Jupiter II near the Pod. They hear alarms. Aliens hide. John tells Don they should search in a circular pattern. Aliens throw clock bombs--which stick to a device or object after thrown and then tick away to a blast. One sticks to a device that Don and John run to for cover and blows up. Don shoots a clock device in the hand of another alien as it tries to toss it and it blows up in their hand. More bombs are thrown. Don and John run behind the Pod. John looks out, "They've got us cut off."Don says something like "We haven't a chance of getting back to the Jupiter."A girl alien with a skull cap throws one as the two men try to round the front of the Pod. The clock sticks to John's chest. Don tries to pull it off.

ACT TWO

John tells Don to get away as Don tries to pull the clock bomb off. The alien tells them to drop their weapons and they do. The alien removes the bomb and stops it. John says, "We come in peace."The female with black hair says, "So I see."Don says, "We were just trying to defend ourselves." When they explain about what Dr. Smith is doing, Don tells them, "Dr. Smith couldn't cut an overgrown toenail."Their leader is a machine as Smith finds out via DERELICT music. It looks like a giant clock but Smith's more accurate he finds. The aliens salute the clock by putting one arm over their chest. They also bow their heads at the same time. It is the greatest brain in the universe. It pulsates and sounds like the Robot's insider heart in TRIP THROUGH THE ROBOT. Smith cannot do it but is told that all the knowledge of the universe is in the brain, no force can stand before them when it is repaired--all will fall before them. 764 goes on to tell Smith he will be personal physician to the ruler of the universe. Smith says, "I will have to think it over," then quickly adds, "I'll do it."All the aliens freeze still including blond female 124. The clock stopped. Smith tells the Robot, "Let's vacate the premises, ninny." The clock returns to normal and the aliens move again. Their leader's heart is their heart--his time span their time span. Smith refers them to an oil can and runs. They chase him. Robot communicates with the clock and will help him. Soon, John, Don, and Smith are in a cage. The Robot is outside. Smith calls him a tin plated traitor. They are on a monitor screen being watched by 1220 and 764. They talk. Don tells Smith, "Knock it off, Smith. We all know you're nothing but a fraud."Robot thinks it is worn out mechanism and twisted electrode rotors as well as eroded COUNTERWEIGHTs. He had Pre Med at the Institute of Cybernetics and was first in his class. He later decided to go into space exploration, changing his major subject. A guard walks by. The aliens turn the TV off. He is soon under a light being interrogated but he refuses to help since the aliens' plans are evil. He will not let them destroy and cause death and destruction. He knows it is wrong. 764 wonders whose safety the Robot cares about above all others. If they find that person using the personality indicator, they can have a hold over him. They hold it--it looking like a tennis racket without any net--over the Robot's head. It will reveal which of their party is closest to the Robot. The other aliens have their guns trained on the Robot. 764, 1220, and another alien (702-a male) go into the lower deck with the personality indicator (amid MY FRIEND MR. NOBODY music). They go into the girls' cabin. Penny's hair is short as is Judy's which is curled and up. They put the personality indicator over both their faces, one at a time, and when it doesn't light up and Judy stirs a bit, they leave the room. They go to Will's room and put it over his face as he sleeps with his hands up and with his lite blue shirt with dark sleeve endings. It glows and lights up.

ACT THREE

Maureen hears a sound and gets up out of a silver comforter blanket, to the door and gets a laser pistol. Will awakes, jumping up, gasping, then asking who they are. Maureen opens the door, "Yes, that's a very good question." 764 says, "You see originally we come from the planet Altaire Cruesis to..."he turns the clock device on his belt and it glows green. An electric field of green is around Maureen who moves back in time and goes backwards to her cabin, shuts the door, and back into her bed! "We could have killed her," 764 tells Will, "...instead of bending time back."Will doesn't have a choice so gets up and gets his silver spacesuit. Inside the probe as he is being taken, he asks 1220 her life span. It is her time span---12 point 2 point 0 antenna, second day of the 12th year of their leader's rule. "Time is not something to be measured. It is to be used," she smugly tells Will, "We control time and through it we will control the universe."Will asks, "Do you really believe that?""It is only a matter of time," she answers. After Will is brought to the Robot and the Robot still refuses, 764 orders 1220, "Destroy the boy first and then the others!" The Robot stops them. Will tells him, "Don't listen." The Robot will operate and soon is dressed up in a white smock, telling Will he was programmed at Medical School. His programmers had great hopes for him. He will have to reactivate those tapes to all they have taught him. Robot tells Will to join the others--he might find the sight of broken springs and leaky oil disturbing. Will wishes him good luck and Robot says he will need it. Will is taken away. Robot asks the clock where it hurts. He starts. Soon, Will is in the cage, too. Smith calls the Robot a mediocre medical misfit. Don tells Smith, "At least the Robot's had two years of med school, Smith, you don't even have that."Smith quotes again, "Iron bars do not a prison make."He asks the Professor for his plan, thinking surely the Professor has one. When John says no, Smith says, "Iron bars do a prison make."John directs them to remove a leg of the bench they are sitting on. Smith watches as a guard passes and warns them (WEST OF MARS music), "Hurry, we'll be killed if they catch us."Smith tells John and Don he is more interested in less violent forms of escape and into more gentle forms of persuasion. John says for him to stay here then until his persuasion gets him out of this cage. Don takes a vote, "I say we leave him here."Smith says, "Zachary Smith is always ready to help his dear companions when they get themselves clumsily into terrible situations."Smith glubs as a guard (712) comes. Don yells that he has the space plague and it could spread all over this ship. Don overacts here. The alien opens the door with his clock belt hour hand. Don grabs him but is punched. John hits him, "Don, are you allright? C'mon!" John goes to run out but the guard, fallen half out of the door, sits up and shoots John in the chest with his laser-ray gun pistol. John falls; Don knocks the guard 712 back out. Will checks John with Smith, "Don, he's awfully still."Don checks, "I don't think there's anything more we can do for him."Will says, "Dr. Smith hold him up."Smith says, "Yes, I will, I will."Don lifts up the soldier as Will asks him to. "I saw them do it before they took me from the Jupiter."He turns the clock on the guard 712's belt to turn time back, "This has to work." (RELUCTANT STOWAWAY music).

ACT FOUR

Time moves back for John and he comes alive again. Don tells him he can thank Will for his being alive and not a goner. These aliens have built some kind of time warp mechanisms which can bend time and move time back or forwards. Don and John run, with Will not far behind, asking for Smith. Smith tells him soon enough. He fools with the clock mechanism as Will leaves. "Oh joy, oh bliss,"he dreams of controlling time using it to pick stocks and race horse winners, "How lovely."All he ends up doing is turning himself into a little boy with black hair, too small for his huge silver space suit. The pop when he does this is the pop-appearance sound made more often by THE TIME TUNNEL when Tony and Doug vanish and appear via the tunnel (usually made, not always) not to mention any number of other things and people brought back and forth by the tunnel. The little Smith says, "Oh dear, oh dear."Will runs to John and Don. Don yells, "John lookout!"Will goes to the Robot. The aliens toss bombs. Robot tells Will he saved the clock's life. Will tells him he hopes he isn't getting a big head--one Dr. Smith is enough. Robot has had the best Med Training Program in the galaxy (?) and wants to stay to oversee his patient but first has to finish saving his life--there is more to do. Will isn't sure he should have helped save him and tells Robot that the aliens and the clock are evil, bad, "Right now they're trying to kill Dad, Don, and Dr. Smith."The clock won't answer the Robot's inquiry. Robot thought the clock has had a change of heart. John and Don come running. "Let's go, son, they're right behind us."Will tells him the Robot doesn't want to leave. The aliens come. At the clock, Will pulls a wire out and the aliens stop still in their tracks, "They're all rigged into that brain somehow--that's why it's so important to them to keep it alive." Smith comes, "I'm too old to be nine years old."He has the same Smith voice--the adult voice, claiming to be the victim of an alien society. Will asks John, "Can't we do anything? It's hard enough being a kid once--it wouldn't be fair for Dr. Smith to have to go through it all twice."Don says, "Smith as an adult was unbearable, as a nine year old he'll be impossible."Robot translates to the clock---treat him some more first, then he will time span Dr. Smith back to normal. Clock via the Robot tells them he still has enough strength to destroy them all. John says they will disconnect the wires. The clock tells Robot he will reform. Robot tells little Smith, "Stand over there child."A TIME TUNNEL pop musical ring and Smith turns back to an adult. He says, "It's all your fault," to the Robot. John, Don, and Will go. Smith says, "Stay well, sir," and to the Robot, "Just you wait!"Android aliens move again and bow.

Jupiter II turns and moves out of the space probe into space via DERELICT stock footage and we hear peaceful BLAST OFF INTO SPACE music. Will is glad the Robot came with them, he'd have missed him if he left. For awhile Will thought Robot would stay with the Xenians. Robot would miss Will. It was tempting though since he could do research at the planetary hospital. The clock calls--he is sick. It is not rusted parts or sprung springs, just a post op recuperation period.

"Next week, John Robinson is caught up in a deadly game of the hunter and the hunted!"

WILD ADVENTURE calm music

Jupiter II in space flying. "If John's in trouble, he could use our help," Maureen says to everyone in the control room. Smith reaches for controls, "Precisely why we should not land...therefore..."

BLAST OFF INTO SPACE action-quake music

Maureen yells, "Don!"Penny yells, "Lookout!"The ship shakes and throws the girls, Will, Don, and Smith. Judy screams. Don shakes into a corner, "Smith, get the fire extinguisher and make sure everyone's strapped in. We're going down for a crash landing!"The Pod: John and the Robot, "Space Pod to Jupiter, beginning entry into planet's atmosphere,"John call on a mike. Pod shakes and enters a radiation belt. Robot warns, "Danger! Danger! Force level building to fatal intensity! Force level detector overloaded!"Alien Megazor yells, "Release the alien!"A cage is opened and an invisible alien comes at John, who yells to Robot (Robot is chained outside the cage), "Where is he?"

JOHN WILLIAMS MUSIC

"Behind you now, hurry, he's in there!"Robot says silly. Will is with Megazor who is hunting John now. Megazor says, "The Earthling has finally trapped himself--there's no escape!"He takes out a knife and moves toward John, who has fallen into quicksand! John and Megazor fight!

"Next week on this channel, excitement and suspense in HUNTER'S MOON on LOST IN SPACE!"

REVIEW: Not bad. A few goofy things though: the Robot having a Med School career is a bit much. Couldn't they have just told us he had some medical training programmed into him? A tape that was faulty due to the many accidents he has had in space? Anyway, if you can get past that, the menace is not too bad, Smith isn't overpowering the entire episode, and it is watchable. There is a lot of action and the Jupiter is in space--even though it is lots of stock footage from other episodes. Another goofy thing was treating the clock leader as if it were sick in human style. Could have done without that. Maureen must have locked the doors right? The aliens probably found their own way in--with some of their own devices and powers. Couldn't we trust her to lock the doors? Not if ONE OF OUR DOGS IS MISSING is any indication of her leadership. The 1220 alien was nicely smug and a bit more villain-like for it. All in all nicely done. Also silly though, was Smith talking as Smith even though he was reduced to a child! In air order, this is the first appearance of the Space Pod. Penny's hair is short here for the first time--in production order. Dr. Smith's third season opening clip is taken from this episode. The DERELICT space shots were tinted blue for outer space and inside the space probe were tinted blue and a bit orange--as seen from inside the Jupiter's window. There is a window in the Jupiter's Utility Room next to the upper crawl ladder. John and Don enter this room and exit out of the lower level's power core door a moment later. The decks seem to be connected in yet another way. This will go on for the rest of the season. The Robot's high pitched communication sounds are as they sounded in RETURN FROM OUTER SPACE.